Page 129 of Rogue Elves of Ardani

Crow, Novikke, and Aruna braved the common room to find dinner. Aruna was using his glamour again, looking like a human version of himself. Crow could tell he was nervous, though he was trying to hide it. The place was surprisingly busy, hosting an odd assortment of travelers. A quartet of monks of Astra sat at the table next to them. In one corner was a pair of dark-skinned southern elves who must have been very far from home, and in another was a group of Uulantaavans who looked like civilians but carried far too many weapons to pass for normal travelers—mercenaries… or possibly brigands.

Vaara wouldn’t be able to hide in plain sight just by putting on a scarf and a hood. The place was loud and busy and poorly lit, but there was no way a night elf would escape notice. Crow didn’t want to think about what would happen if he was discovered.

So the three of them ate quickly, avoiding the eyes of the other travelers and aiming to get back to their rooms as soon as possible.

“You see that guy across the room?” Novikke said. She tilted her head subtly toward the bar without looking up. “He’s been looking at us.”

Aruna paused mid-bite. He wasn’t wearing his translator, but he evidently knew Novikke well enough to guess what she was saying.

Crow glanced down, making sure they both had their swords on them, then followed Novikke’s gaze to the bar.

A rather good-looking blonde man sat on a stool, peering back at Crow. He gave them a crooked smile before turning away.

Crow turned back to her food. “He’s not a threat.”

“How do you know?”

“Unless you consider pick up lines threatening—and I sense some will be incoming any minute now—you have nothing to worry about.”

Novikke snorted. She got out a small notebook and began writing in it, then handed it to Aruna. They wrote back and forth a few times. It was their primary method of communication when they weren’t using the translator.

“Aruna says Vaara will be wanting his turn,” Novikke said, putting the notebook away and giving the man at the bar another cautious glance. “Will you be all right here alone?”

“I’ll be fine.”

They left, and Crow remained sitting at the table, waiting for Vaara.

She was still trying to decide what to say to him. They’d hardly be able to ignore each other once it was just the two of them at the table.

A part of her wanted to pretend she hadn’t been hurt by what he’d done. She could go back to the room with him, say something snippy to him to get him riled up, and then screw him silly, feelings be damned. She doubted he’d turn her down.

The wiser course of action would be to do nothing. Because the longer this went on, the more she feared that she needed more than sex and a tenuous alliance between them.

She leaned her chin on her hand, closing her eyes as the noise of the inn buzzed around her.

She wasn’t the sort of person who fell in love. That was a thing that foolish, naive people let themselves be manipulated into. It made you stupid. It made you forget what was important. It made you forget to put yourself first. And once it started happening to you, it brainwashed you into believing you wanted it more than anything. She’d seen it happen to people.

That wasn’t what was happening to her. She knew better. She especially knew better than to fall for a night elf. And she definitely wasn’t stupid enough to think someone she’d once enslaved could love her.

“I thought they’d never leave.”

Crow looked up. The blonde man from the bar stood beside her table with a handsome, crooked smile on his lips.

She didn’t know what she did to attract propositions like this. She certainly wasn’t trying to. Not this time, anyway.

She gave him a thin smile back. “You were waiting eagerly for the chance to make your move, I take it?”

“Of course.”

“Well? I’m waiting.”

He leaned closer. “Is that an invitation?”

“Depends on what your moves are.”

He gave her a long look up and down, while Crow did the same to him. He was young, probably too young for her, but tall and square-jawed. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and a pleasing amount of muscle wrapped around his forearms. He was the sort of person she usually would have found attractive, but something about him was putting her off.

She realized it was because he looked a little like Alexei. The similarity put a bad taste in her mouth.

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